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Strava shares data on most active running, cycling cities

SAN FRANCISCO (BRAIN) — Running and cycling fitness app and website Strava has launched a new interactive data platform, called Insights, to compare information from the 12 most active cities across the globe.

Insights shows not only the most popular routes for commuters in New York and London, but performance stats like what city was most active before work (measured in percentage of rides and runs between 5 and 8 a.m.), what city has the fastest runners, where cyclists ride the longest distances, or what city’s cyclists ride the most.

“Strava Insights is the culmination of analyzing billions of GPS data points and millions of athlete activities, giving never-seen-before insight into cycling and running behaviors in 12 key global cities,” said Davis Kitchel, co-founder of Strava and Strava Geo lead. "We want to give our millions of athletes a fascinating view of how their own activities compare with their fellow community members both near and far.”

The Strava Insights platform refreshes each week and shows the last 12 months of data from Strava members, allowing comparison between the 12 most active cities. More than 30 million activities have been uploaded in the last year across these cities. Cities in Strava Insights include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Sydney.

Twenty million cycling activities alone have been logged on Strava across the 12 most active cities in the past year, which has unveiled some interesting insights:

Most active cycling city: London logged more than 7 million rides in 12 months. The most active cycling city in the U.S. is San Francisco (2.4 million rides), ranked third behind London and Amsterdam, and just ahead of Los Angeles.

Fastest running city: Parisian runners have the fastest average pace, with 8:56 minutes per mile, besting New York City, the fastest-running city in the U.S., by 19 seconds.

Earliest birds: Sydney’s cyclists record 29 percent of their rides between 6 and 8 a.m. In the U.S., both San Francisco's and Los Angeles’ cyclists record 11 percent of their rides between 6 and 8 a.m.

Insights can be accessed on desktop or mobile by visiting Strava Insights page.